Christine O’Donnell Has A Lesbian Sister?

Promotional flyer from a Jennie O’Donnell-directed show in L.A.

Christine O’Donnell, who took in one million dollars after winning the GOP primary for the seat that now-Vice President Joe Biden sat in for thirty-six years, has become the talk of America — but not in a good way.

She’s anti-gay, anti-separation of church and state, much to most everyone’s amusement, anti-masturbation, anti-abortion, and, as Politico reports, has said, “condoms are “anti-human” and “will not protect you from AIDS.” To that, she added, “So to just throw a bunch of condoms over to Africa and say, ‘Here, we’re helping you with AIDS,’ is just going to further the spread of AIDS over there.”

Of course, then there’s her “ex-gay” past.

Gail Collins, one week ago, in, “Horror In The Hedges,” wrote, “the Tea Party Express, which provided critical financial help to a little-known right-wing insurgent who won the Senate nomination in Alaska, announced it was sending $250,000 to Christine O’Donnell in Delaware. That was followed by The Endorsement. Sarah Palin called Sean Hannity’s radio show and then made the all-important Facebook posting, predicting O’Donnell would “help usher in the real change we need to get America on the right track.”

“Her real drawbacks as a candidate are numbers and shrubbery. O’Donnell has had a series of financial problems, and her disclosure form says she earned only $5,800 last year, although she claims she had other income that didn’t require disclosing. She said for years that she was a 1993 graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University, but it turns out she actually got her degree … last week. And a conservative radio host was compelled to correct her when she claimed that she had won two counties in a 2008 race against Senator Joe Biden. That would have been quite a trick, given that Delaware has only three counties and she lost the election by 65 percent to 35 percent.

“I meant tied,” she said, forcing the host to point out: “You didn’t tie him either.”

“About the shrubs. O’Donnell’s campaign pays half the rent on her town house, which she argued is appropriate since she really lives elsewhere, in a location she needs to conceal from her opponents. She told The Weekly Standard that she returns at the end of the day to the town house “and then we have our team come out and check all the bushes and check all the cars” to see if she is being followed by someone who might jeopardize her safety. Her opponents, she added, are also “hiding in the bushes when I’m at candidate forums.”

But now, in, “A Tale of Two Sisters,” David Corn and Suzy Khimm delve into Christine O’Donnell’s family and find what pretty much has to be a lesbian sister. They write, O’Donnell “has a sister named Jennie who lives in Los Angeles. And Jennie’s Facebook and LinkedIn pages depict a person who appears to be quite different than Christine—in essence, the polar opposite. Yet the two have recently appeared on the campaign trail together, with Jennie obviously supporting her sister’s Senate bid.”

“On her Facebook page, Jennie notes that she “live [sic] in west hollywood ca with my girlfriend and my dogs. just try to keep it simple and live!” She notes she is self-employed as a “spiritual psychologist, actor, meditation teacher.” She describes her political stance as “conservative liberal.” As for religious views, she says she is “into spirituality, not one religion, study all religions, take what i like, leave the rest.” Her long list of Facebook “likes” include “The word ‘Fuck,'” Christine O’Donnell for US Senate, the No H8 Campaign (which opposed a 2008 California ballot proposition to ban gay marriage), the Dalai Lama, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

“This summer, Jennie O’Donnell directed a play at the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Project, a feminist theater company. Entitled The Oblivion Series, the production included, according to a promotional flyer, “course [sic] language (oh my!) & partial nudity (oh behave!).”

And then add this:

The O’Donnell Senate campaign did not respond to requests for comment. On Wednesday, Jennie posted this message on Facebook:

to all my friends and family..thank you for your great wishes.. for the wisdom to see through the insane lies that were being tossed around, and still will be, i supose. i’m sure they will make up new ones; but thank you for your love, support prayers, good humor… and support of my sister,no matter what lies were made up about her…oh.. p.s. haave you heard the latest? she’s homophobic… gotta laugh

Andrew Sullivan responds saying, “No, Jennie. Gotta cry.”

“Well, family is family, and, as we know, Republicans have had few problems backing a party that would disenfranchise and persecute their own families – from Cheney to Rove. But the O’Donnell family seems to me to have reached a whole new level of cognitive dissonance.”

Jeremy Hooper of GoodAsYou asks, “So is she “homophobic,” as Jennie O’Donnell defines it? Frankly: Who the hell cares?! Not this site. Not most activists. What we do care about is the work and the views. Work and views that might soon join the United States Senate, guiding votes on matters like the Defense of Marriage Act, employment non-discrimination, immigration rights, and open service.”

And I agree. Words are words, and actions are actions.

Perhaps (ab)using religion to “save” someone might been seen by some as an act of support. To me, it’s an act of rejection.